Perception is NOT Reality

Have you ever heard someone say, “No one goes to the Fulton Mall”? Well, the data is in, and we can finally lay that one to rest.

Celebrating local band Fierce Creatures’ new album titled Catacomb Party, nine other bands joined them as well as about 1,000 friends. The crowd filled in the block of the Fulton Mall between Fresno and Merced streets, in front of Fresno Brewing Co.

It was a huge community event unseen here at Fulton Mall since the sixties.

The big story here, though, is the gap between public perception and reality on the Mall.

Last year the Downtown Association commissioned a study of pedestrians on the Mall. During the weeks after the count, the association sponsored a ‘Guess the Pedestrians’ contest in which the public was invited to guess the number of pedestrians who passed by a set location on the Mall.

The guessers vastly underestimated the number of pedestrians on the Mall:
Average guess: 1041
Median guess: 625
Lowest daily guess: 55
Highest daily guess: 7000
Interestingly, however, the wildly optimistic guesser estimated pedestrians on Saturday at only 600, implying that even this person was very pessimistic about pedestrian activity on the Mall on weekends.

The recent catacomb party also demonstrates the Mall is far from over. Evaluating the success or failure of the Fulton Mall is a complex thing. The issues are up for debate, but, make no mistake about the numbers: each day, over four or five thousand people walk the Fulton Mall. And this party rocked!

And for an in-depth look at the Mall and the surrounding area About Town Taste adventures sets foot there Saturday morning (before it gets too hot!) Advance tickets are being offered at a huge discount….Go to BrownPaperTickets.com